Joe Torre chides David Ortiz about disrespecting scorers

By The Associated Press

Major League Baseball executive Joe Torre says he doesn’t agree with Red Sox slugger David Ortiz about official scorers.

Ortiz was upset Wednesday when his ball was ruled an error on Minnesota first baseman Joe Mauer instead of a hit. When the inning ended at Fenway Park, Ortiz glared and waved his arms toward official scorer Bob Ellis. ...
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Major League Baseball executive Joe Torre says he doesn’t agree with Red Sox slugger David Ortiz about official scorers.

Ortiz was upset Wednesday when his ball was ruled an error on Minnesota first baseman Joe Mauer instead of a hit. When the inning ended at Fenway Park, Ortiz glared and waved his arms toward official scorer Bob Ellis.

After Boston won, Ortiz suggested that scoring decisions should tilt toward the home team.

Torre, the MLB executive vice president for baseball operations, says not everyone will agree with official scorers.

“But everyone in our game deserves respect. I hope that David will meet that standard going forward, because I don’t share the same views that he expressed,” Torre said in a statement.

“Official scorers should never give any benefit of the doubt to the home team,” he said.

Players can ask for a review. Last month, Torre reversed a scorer’s ruling and gave Ortiz a single against Texas ace Yu Darvish.

Ortiz declined to discuss the matter when approached by reporters before Friday’s game at Oakland.

Boston manager John Farrell said he previously spoke with Ortiz about the incident. He added that the Red Sox will send tape from the play to the MLB offices for further review.

“Anytime there’s a discrepancy, a dispute or a differing of opinion, there’s a process that the play can be forwarded for further review and that’s what we’ll do with David’s ball that glanced off Mauer’s glove the other day,” Farrell said. “It was a time when some frustration emerged. The review process will have a chance to look at this again.”

Runs still scarce

The Red Sox have had problems scoring for nearly a week, and it finally caught up with them on the start of their longest road trip of the season. Jake Peavy pitched into the seventh inning and allowed only three earned runs but didn’t have much to show for it after Boston was held to five hits in a 4-2 loss to Scott Kazmir and the Oakland Athletics on Thursday night.

Peavy gave up only five hits over 61⁄3 innings, following up a stellar outing in his previous start.

With little support behind him, though, the right-hander remained winless since May 25.

“Physically I didn’t feel very good out there to start, I wasn’t in sync,” Peavy said. “I wasn’t good or on point. That’s just the way it is been going. Without scoring a ton of runs, those little mistakes mean everything.”

Peavy (1-5) pitched with runners on base in the first four innings before settling in. He retired eight of the final nine batters he faced and struck out four with three walks.

It wasn’t enough to prevent the Red Sox from ending their three-game winning streak – a run in which they scored five runs total. Boston has scored just 10 runs over its last six games.

“Jake battled,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “We didn’t have too many opportunities. You see what (Kazmir has) put up, not just against us, but throughout the season so far. Once again we’re scrambling to create some opportunities.”

Kazmir pitched seven innings to win his fourth straight start, Yoenis Cespedes hit his 14th home run and Stephen Vogt had two hits and two RBIs to move the A’s a season-high 17 games over .500. It’s the best record in the majors and continued Oakland’s best start since 1990.

Kazmir (9-2) went into the game with the second-lowest ERA among qualifiers in the AL and extended his streak to 181⁄3 innings without allowing an earned run before Dustin Pedroia hit a two-run home run in the sixth. He struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.

Cespedes had not homered against the Red Sox until his two-out, solo shot off Peavy in the third.

Boston had played five straight one-run games heading into the series opener with Oakland. This one was tight as well.

Kazmir, who hasn’t lost since May 23, took a shutout into the sixth that Pedroia ended with a two-out home run.

“To be honest, our at bats weren’t that bad,” Pedroia said. “The guys hit some balls at people. We have to find a way to have a big inning and get some momentum.”

Luke Gregerson pitched the eighth and Dan Otero worked the ninth for his first career save.

Vogt hit an RBI groundout off Peavy in the second and singled in another run in the fourth. Jed Lowrie, who walked and doubled, scored both times.

Kazmir retired 15 of the first 17 batters he faced before Pedroia’s two-run home run cut Oakland’s lead to 3-2.